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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26517322">The Parable of Your Prodigal Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian'>Polyhexian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Humanformers: The Music AU [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Humanformers, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, POV Third Person, Recreational Drug Use</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:54:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,570</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26517322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chromedome is missing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chromedome/Rewind (Transformers)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Humanformers: The Music AU [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859230</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Parable of Your Prodigal Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Rewind </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I'm sorry. I know I messed everything up, and I know it was my fault and no one else's. You've been good to me and I never wanted to repay you like this. I know you'll never forgive me and you have every right, so I won't put you through anything else. Thank you for everything. I have been lucky to love you. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> I already sent over footage of the house to your insurance to file a claim but you need to call your insurance agent to finalize it. I told the hospital you wanted an itemized receipt for services rendered, so that should help the bill some. My keys are on the counter. I already cleared out my stuff. I promise I won't bother you again.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Chromedome </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The nurse was the last person who had seen Chromedome, and no one had heard from him personally since the break-in. Brainstorm had found his things in the garbage bin, including his diploma. His car was gone, it didn't seem like he'd taken any of his clothes, and he'd left his phone behind. </p><p>Rewind felt his whole world slipping through his fingers and spiraling out of control. Tailgate had been calling numbers on his phone for an hour asking if anyone had seen him. Rewind felt useless, panicked, grief stricken. He knew better than most that Chromedome was a suicide risk.</p><p>Rewind's face was buried in Brainstorm's shirt while Tailgate murmured over the phone and he sobbed miserably, too in pain and too grief stricken to even pretend to save face in front of his friend. </p><p>"He's dead," Rewind choked out through his tears, "He's dead and I killed him."</p><p>"You didn't kill him," Brainstorm shushed him, though he didn't argue the first point. </p><p>"God, I did, I <em> did</em>," Rewind sobbed, "The last time we spoke was a fight and he died thinking I <em> hated </em> him." </p><p>"It's not your fault," Brainstorm said, voice strained but measured, like someone deeply acquainted with grief, "CD has always been- self destructive. It's not your fault." </p><p>"He's such an idiot!" Rewind snarled through hot tears, "I always say shit like that when I'm mad! He wasn't supposed to take it literally! He wasn't supposed to think I'd <em> actually </em> never forgive him!" </p><p>"I know," Brainstorm mumbled.</p><p>"He's so stupid," Rewind hiccuped, face buried, "I hate him so much."</p><p>"You don't hate him," Brainstorm said.</p><p>"I don't hate him," Rewind sniffled, "of course I don't hate him." He leaned away and wiped his face on the sheet. "We should report him missing, right? Someone has to look for him."</p><p>"They're useless," Brainstorm said, voice quiet and with uncharacteristic vitriol, "If they even find him they won't help him." </p><p>Rewind swallowed and stared at his lap. "If he's still alive I'm afraid a story that he's a missing suicide risk going viral will push him over the edge." He grimaced, wiping his eyes again. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to fix it."</p><p>"I'll start driving around," Brainstorm answered, "I can think of a few places he <em> might </em> be. Maybe I'll get lucky."</p><p>"Yeah... yeah, okay, yeah, that- that makes sense, um, maybe Cyclonus and Whirl can help look for him or his car, too- that's- I can call Rodimus, he can keep things to himself when he wants to, and maybe- maybe he's okay," Rewind said weakly, as if he were convincing himself.</p><p>"Yeah," said Brainstorm, distantly, before he stood up, "Someone should stay with you, though. I don't think you should be alone right now." He dipped through the doorway without saying anything else, and Rewind tried to draw his legs up to his chest before the movement caused a lightning bolt of pain through his gut and he flopped back flat, seething. </p><p>He laid back for a moment, gathering his bearings, trying to will his tears to stop for just a minute, and then picked up his phone and called Rodimus.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Night came and no one had found anything. </p><p>Through his window Rewind could see the sliver of moon hanging somberly in the sky. Rodimus had passed out at some point, arms folded on the bed and legs kicked under the chair, ever the dutiful friend. Rewind had woken when his morphine drip had slowed too much and he'd had to call the nurse for help, though she had been quiet and Rodimus was a notoriously deep sleeper. He hadn't even moved.</p><p>He ignored the beeping of his own heartbeat on the monitor and held Chromedome's phone in his hands like a precious artifact, before he turned the screen on. He'd told Chromedome a million times to put a passcode on his phone and he never had, and now Rewind was glad he'd never gotten around to it. </p><p>He opened Chromedome's photo app and flipped backwards through scattered selfies and candid pictures, sniffling as he scrolled through them. Chromedome <em> had </em> looked terrible recently, eyes sunken into his skull, deep tired circles and a consistent stress in the way he held himself. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed. Had he not been paying attention? Why couldn't he just ask for <em> help? </em></p><p>He swiped back to a selfie they'd taken together at the beach, where Chromedome had caught him off guard on purpose by tickling him right before he hit the button. The photo was blurry, he'd jerked forward and burst with laughter, elbowing him away while Chromedome grinned mischievously. It was a terrible photo, off center, blurry, blown out. He hadn't even bothered posting it on Instagram.</p><p>Rewind held the phone against his chest, eyes squeezed shut, taking a shaky inhale as he willed himself not to cry again.</p><p>"Don't give up," Rodimus said, barely above a whisper, and Rewind snapped his eyes open to see Rodimus had picked his head up, "We'll find him."</p><p>"Maybe," Rewind said, miserably. </p><p>"Don't lose hope," Rodimus said, more firmly, "Once you give up, it's all over."</p><p>Rewind picked up Chromedome's phone again and looked at the picture. "I know."</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After four days in the hospital they sent him home with painkillers and antibiotics and told him to stay in bed. </p><p>No one had found Chromedome. They hadn't found a body, either, and that was the only hope Rewind could cling to. Chromedome <em> knew </em> he had already lost one boyfriend and never had the closure of finding the body and he had to believe Chromedome wouldn't do that to him, would never. </p><p>Coming home was the worst of it. Brainstorm had driven him home and been patient with him when he refused to use the wheelchair he'd left with to get from the car to his front door. Rewind had known Brainstorm as long as he had known Chromedome now, the man had somehow come as a package deal with his boyfriend, unentangleable, but Rewind didn't feel like he'd ever known him as well as he would have liked. Brainstorm struck him as suspiciously reserved for such an excitable and outgoing person, and he got the distinctive feeling he was always hiding something, but after so many years, he had started to think whatever it was wasn't any of his business anyway. It certainly wasn't malicious. He'd been a good friend to him, had not even questioned his unexpected role filling in for Chromedome with helping him somehow. </p><p>His home felt barren. Things were missing, and what was left was too neat, too clean. Photos were absent from the wall, no TV in the living room. Pink-brown stain in the kitchen. He couldn't wait to change into fresh clothes but opening his dresser and seeing half of it cleared out made him nearly sick again. </p><p>At the bottom of his side he found one of Chromedome's old hoodies he had stolen from him, huge on his short frame, warm and soft and broken in. Rewind collapsed into his bed, too neatly made, pulled up the hood and wrapped his arms around his chest, breathing in an imaginary scent on the fabric. It had been months since Chromedome had worn this, and it had been washed a dozen times since. Nothing left of him lingered on it. Not on the sheets, either. The scent of lavender and vanilla surrounded him, impersonal and empty. </p><p>"Hey, I got the-" Brainstorm paused in the doorway, gaze flicking over Rewind in a hoodie he knew Brainstorm recognized, crying, and then turned impassively away as he crossed to the side of the bed, "I got the mac n' cheese." </p><p>Rewind sniffled and sat up, taking the bowl when he was offered it. His stomach rolled constantly, miserable and roiling, but he hadn't eaten all day and he knew he had to. </p><p>"Thanks," he said, shakily, staring at the bowl. After a moment of silence, Brainstorm sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder, the gesture heavy with unspoken mutual grief. </p><p>Rewind took a bite of the mac 'n cheese. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The next day Tailgate found his car at a roadside dealership. He'd sold it for cash the first day and left on foot. There was nothing else to look for. Everyone went home. Back to work, to school, to the responsibilities they'd neglected all week, helping him. Only the chronically unemployed Whirl remained, loathe to leave him alone. Rewind took an extra vicodin and let the despair consume him like darkness for just a little while, and tried to sympathize with his ex-lover's disposition.</p><p>When he woke mid morning the following day he was prepared to call the police and accept the inevitable and let the search for a body begin, but in the darkest moment of resignation, he got an email.</p><p>He got a lot of emails. Sponsorship deals, promotion discussion, collaboration requests, responses to a variety of inquiries, fan mail, and endless spam. This one had a simple subject line.</p><p>
  <em> Is this your man? </em>
</p><p>It was him. </p><p>Rewind felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw it and <em> knew </em> it was him in this blurry cell phone photo of a disheveled man passed out on a ratty looking couch in a smoky room. Rewind even recognized his clothes. The cast was new. He looked terrible, eyes sunken into his head, arms bruised. </p><p><em> Where did you take this? </em> Rewind wrote back, his hands shaking. He waited thirty seconds before he resorted to pulling the metadata from the image. </p><p>The Dead End. Rodion. He'd gone back home. </p><p>"Whirl!" Rewind yelled, and heard her startle downstairs, "Whirl, come up here!" </p><p>"What? What's wrong?" she stammered, skidding into view, "Where's the fire?"</p><p>"Whirl, he's alive!" Rewind cried, somehow finding the strength to cry again, "He's in the Dead End!"</p><p>"Huh?" </p><p>"Look!" he said, holding his phone out toward her. She gave it a dubious glance and crossed the room before she took it. Her expression shifted and she glanced up at him, scarred corners of her mouth pulled sharply down. "What?"</p><p>"Boss," she said slowly, as if she was considering not finishing the thought, "this is a bando."</p><p>"A what?"</p><p>"You know," she said, shifting uncomfortably, "Like a crack den."</p><p>"What? How can you even tell that?" he burst, leaning forward despite the stab of pain. Whirl tilted the screen toward him and pointed at it.</p><p>"Come on, there's trash everywhere, that window's boarded up- see those wrappers on the floor? Those are from the needle exchange program."</p><p>Rewind pulled his phone back into his lap, looking at Chromedome again. Tired, bruised. Surrounded by filth. </p><p>"Oh," he said, softly.</p><p>"Sorry," said Whirl, awkwardly. </p><p>"Whirl," Rewind said, barely a whisper, "What do I do?" </p><p>"Why are you asking me?" Whirl was fidgeting, her scar-smeared hands itching at her sides, scratching the folds of her jeans. </p><p>"Because I don't <em> know</em>," Rewind admitted, "I don't know what to do. I don't know where he is and even if I did, I can barely walk to the bathroom on my own. I can't do <em> anything.</em>"</p><p>Whirl shoved her hands into her pockets and leaned back against the wall. "You already know he's back on the hard stuff. He got you <em> shot </em> . He <em> left </em> you. I mean, don't get me wrong, boss, I like the guy, but he ain't exactly a catch. He lives on your dime and drives you crazy half the time. You know he's alive, now. Ain't that enough?"</p><p>"He's going to kill himself, or he's going to get himself killed," Rewind shook his head, "Eventually. He's given up and he's just sinking and he won't make it unless someone drags him back out kicking and screaming. I just," he clenched his hands in his lap, "He's stupid, he's irresponsible, he's so fucking <em> dramatic </em> all the time but- he cares, so <em> much</em>, about everything, and everyone, all the time, and he never learned how to handle that. He's a good person. He'd give you the shirt off your back if you asked for it." He paused. "I love him."</p><p>"Yeah," Whirl sighed, "that'll do it." She sat down on the edge of the mattress, facing away from him, hands pulling into loose fists on the duvet. "When I got kicked out of the Wreckers it was the worst day of my life, you know."</p><p>Rewind had heard the story from Tailgate, but never from Whirl. "Yeah?"</p><p>"Yeah," she said, shoulders dipping, "I wasn't a good person. I got in early, you know. Dropped out of school before I finished eighth grade. So I'm sittin' in the county jail and I ain't got no friends left in the world, nowhere to be, nowhere to go, no one to call but some girls phone number on a receipt in my pocket, and- and they showed up. I didn't deserve it, didn't do nothin' to earn it, but they showed up and took me home anyway like I was somebody that mattered." She looked toward the door, still facing away from him, unreadable, "Figure they probably saved my life in a couple more ways than one. I owe 'em a lot."</p><p>"I don't understand," Rewind said, "Why are you telling me this?"</p><p>"Cuz I always believed in karma, you know," she murmured, with a shrug, "and I didn't deserve to get rescued. I didn't do nothin' to earn it. But I got rescued anyways and I figure that maybe karma was waitin' in the wings for me to pay my dues back later."</p><p>"What does that mean?" </p><p>"He's down in the Dead End, yeah? Rodion?" </p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>"I used to live there," she said, "I grew up in Polyhex but I moved to Rodion when I ran away. And I still sorta know some people down there. I could go down and ask around the old haunts."</p><p>Rewind was quiet for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "You would do that for him?" </p><p>"I'd do it for you," she corrected, "I know you only gave me a job cuz Teeg asked you to, but, I'm still grateful."</p><p>"Whirl, I will put you through <em> college </em> if you bring him back for me," Rewind wheezed, his words shaky and stressed, "I'll owe you for <em> life.</em>"</p><p>"You don't owe me shit," she snorted, "I already owe enough." She glanced back at him, "Just stay the hell in bed and don't pull your stitches, a'ight?" </p><p>"Thank you," Rewind said.</p><p>"Don't thank me yet," said Whirl as she stood, "Thank me when I've dragged the bastard back kickin' and screamin'."</p>
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